We have so enjoyed reading, thinking about and responding to your questions. Thank you so much for taking the time to ask them and to make comments. We are honored to be able to be a part of NAEYC's renewed focus on the kindergarten year and look forward to continuing these conversations. Let's all continue to keep children and their needs at the forefront of our thinking, our planning, and our decision-making. Here's the the power of the kindergarten year!
Amy and Eva

What are some simple and some not-so-simple ways parents can support DAP in their child's classroom, working with the teacher and the administration? It may be easy to do when a teacher who is able to meet the school system's standards and create a developmentally appropriate kindergarten environment can direct parents. But what if the teacher is unfamiliar with DAP or the administration says "no play" (of any kind)?

Thank you for bringing up another important aspect of developmentally appropriate practice - the connection and partnership with families. Teachers have a critical responsibility in establishing strong, positive and genuine relationships with families in their communities. Kindergarten teachers have the opportunity to share their knowledge of child development, appropriate learning strategies and effective educational practices with the families of the children they teach, as well as to learn as much from the families as they can about their children. This can only occur if the teacher has worked, from the very beginning, to build a solid and trusting partnership with each family in his or her class. Only then can teachers and families have meaningful conversations about their shared goals for their children.

Throughout the year, it is critical that teachers provide numerous opportunities for families to learn about developmentally appropriate teaching practices. Many strategies are included in the chapter called Develop Reciprocal Relationships with Families which begins on page 67. Some of these include:
plan for a variety of opportunities to get to know families, such as conducting home visits, collecting information and ideas through questionnaires, and providing meaningful and engaging orientation experiences; acknowledge and respect the diversity of families by learning about the unique cultures, interests, languages and other characteristics of each child and family;
create an inviting environment to ensure that children AND families feel welcome;
maintain frequent, positive, two-way communication with all families such as weekly newsletters, frequent emails and text messages, regularly updated class webpages; and
invite families to participate in school experiences with their children

Ways that families can help support DAP in kindergarten vary based on the families themselves. Of course, some families are able to participate more regularly in “school” experiences than others, based on work schedules, past school experiences and interests. When families are genuinely included in the education of their children and feel valued and heard, they are more apt to feel comfortable supporting and participating in school activities. The most important thing that families can do is to share their own knowledge of their children with the teacher, since we know that families know their children better than we do.

When teachers and/or administrators do not understand how young children learn best it does make this difficult. It is our hope that with resources from NAEYC and others, teachers will begin to understand the importance of providing developmentally appropriate and engaging experiences, including play, for children. But, it will take all of us working and advocating together to change the tide and to support kindergarten teachers in doing so.

I would like to be able to highlight how developmentally appropriate practices supports effective teaching. If it is understood to support best practices instead of oppose best practices, I think it will be more easy for all teachers to embrace DAP. Do you have any sheet or snapshot that might highlight best practices and DAP kindergarten?

We don't have a separate sheet or quick snapshot of DAP and kindergarten available at this time, but what a lovely idea! :) What we do have is found in the chapter of the book called Teach to Enhance Development and Learning which begins on page 40. Within this chapter you can find easy to read information and tips for utilizing a wide range of appropriate and research-based strategies with kindergarten age children.

The analogy that is used for this is that of a carpenter and a toolbox. Like a competent carpenter, a skilled teacher has many tools, or teaching strategies, in her tool box. Some of these strategies include:
asking questions, creating or adding challenge, offering encouragement, fostering dialogue and communication, linking the new to the familiar, listening attentively, offering choices, providing opportunities for reflection, and using rich vocabulary.

Also in this toolbox are ideas for appropriately scaffolding children's learning as well as strategies for using a variety of learning formats throughout each day, including large groups, small groups, learning centers, learning stations and daily routines.

Hopefully, the ideas found within this chapter, along with the rest of the book, can provide you with information that will help you highlight effective teaching strategies for kindergarten.

Wonderful to have this document! Now, we just need to get it into the hands of administrators and teachers of kindergarteners to see how so much of what is done in our public classrooms is not DAP. The focus is so much on the end product, we loose sight of the method or process and even the child involved!!

Thank you for your comments. We absolutely agree with your concern about what's happening in many kindergarten classrooms today. In fact, that is one of the main reasons that NAEYC is putting a stronger focus on the kindergarten year in its resources and advocacy efforts. Although this book is written especially for teachers, it would be a great resource to share with administrators, as well. Many elementary school administrators do not have an early childhood education background, therefore it is critical that we help them to understand how young children learn best. We also hope that this new resource will help to re-energize kindergarten teachers who are feeling the pressure to, as you so aptly say, “focus on the end product” and not the child. Thank you for helping NAEYC spread the word about the importance of the use of developmentally appropriate practices in kindergarten.

In a world of CCSS for ELA and Math, and the Next Generation Science Standards, as well as Kindergarten curriculum for ELA and Math being dictated to teachers, how can we ensure developmentally appropriate practices for all children? Especially when each child comes to us with a different set of needs, skills and abilities. It would seem the focus is shifting toward academics and away from DAP. What is your fear regarding this shift?

This is an important question- and one that many educators are asking! Standards have been around for a long time. Since the first kindergarten was established in the United States, professional organizations, states, and other entities have placed emphasis on defining and evaluating key learning outcomes for young children. While most people agree that identifying key ideas at each grade level helps to ensure vertical alignment of critical concepts, not all people agree on what those key ideas should be. In 2010, the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and the Council of Chief State School Officers published the K-12 Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts and Mathematics. These standards were designed to “provide a consistent, clear understanding of what students are expected to learn, so teachers and parents know what they need to do to help them” (see www.corestandards.org). To date, almost all of the states in the United States have adopted these standards.

It’s important to remember that the standards are “the what”. They identify the concepts and skills that are most important for children to know by the end of the school year. However, standards are not “the how”. This is where developmentally appropriate practices come into play! Developmentally appropriate practice is based on knowledge of how young children develop and learn. It results from the process of teachers making decisions about the well-being and education of children based on what is age appropriate, individually appropriate, and appropriate to children’s social and cultural contexts. These research-based practices help students learn and develop as they move towards meeting the standards put forth.

So, as teachers consider the standards and plan for their students, they infuse each day with developmentally appropriate practices. They pay careful attention to how they are nurturing relationships, knowing that children learn and develop best when they are part of a community of learners. They use a wide variety of teaching strategies, such as asking questions, fostering dialogues, offering choices, linking the new to the familiar, and using rich vocabulary. They scaffold student’s learning, providing the least amount of support that the child needs to do something he cannot quite do on his own. They use a variety of learning formats, thinking carefully about which learning context or format is best for helping children achieve a desired outcome. They incorporate a variety of assessment strategies in an effort to get to know each child and his or her current and changing abilities, needs, interests, and unique characteristics. They also develop reciprocal relationships with families, intentionally working to build strong partnerships.

Therefore, DAP and “academics” are not opposing terms. They are not in conflict of one another. Instead, developmentally appropriate practice is the vehicle for helping children successfully reach the desired expectations.

A very timely and wonderful resource! I will use this as a resource to support pre-k teachers in their understanding of a developmentally appropriate kindergarten environment and how it relates to their own practices in effectively preparing children for their kindergarten year. Kudos to Eva and Amy!

Thank you so much for your comment. We both wholeheartedly agree with you about the importance of the connection between pre-k and kindergarten teachers. A child's transition from pre-k to kindergarten is one of the most exciting and anticipated times in a family's life and can also be one of the most stressful. When teachers talk with one another and understand the varying expectations of their own programs, children and families will benefit greatly. Understanding what comes before and after for the children will ensure stronger and more appropriate experiences for the children we all teach.

You ask a very important question. Although there are numerous perspectives on the topic of readiness, if we base our answer on what is developmentally appropriate, then there is not one specific set of skills that children should or must possess in order to enter kindergarten.

In the best of worlds, children who come to kindergarten having been consistently read to, talked with, allowed to play, explore and ask questions, have had opportunities to make meaningful choices, have had experiences outside of their own homes such as visits to a museum, a park, or a grocery store, do come to kindergarten with their own toolbox of beginning strategies for learning and dealing with the new world called “school”.

Other important “skills” that will provide a strong foundation for learning in the kindergarten year include children's sense of self and their beginning abilities to regulate their own thoughts, emotions and behaviors, attend to a task that is interesting to them, follow simple directions, play and share with others and have a beginning understanding of numbers and letters (beginning with the letters of their own name).

Unfortunately, we know that many children do not arrive at the kindergarten door equipped with all the above, therefore it is just as important, if not more so, for teachers and schools to be ready for all the children w ho will come walking through their door. Having a successful kindergarten experience can be enhanced by prior experiences at home and in preschool settings, but just as critical are the types of experiences that children have once they arrive in the kindergarten classroom.

Building on whatever skills children have is the key to developmentally appropriate practices and falls on the shoulders of the school and the teachers along with the children's families to ensure that each child is supported and provided the most appropriate and engaging kindergarten experience possible to lead to a successful first year in elementary school.

Kindergarten is a unique grade because children still in an early childhood developmental period are put into an elementary school academic setting. What are the most crucial aspects of developmentally appropriate practice Kindergarten teachers should incorporate into their pedagogical practices to ensure students meet common core standards in an appropriate way?

Rachel,
As you know, kindergarten teachers are responsible for actively supporting children’s development and learning. However, there is no magic formula for doing this. Successful teachers use their knowledge and judgment to make decisions about the materials, interactions, and learning experiences likely to be most effective for the group and for each individual child.

We understand the immense pressure that many kindergarten teachers feel as they try to balance sometimes unrealistic expectations of kindergarten age children with what is known about how they grow and develop. However, even in today's world of increasing standards, it is how the teacher facilitates learning that is the key to developmentally appropriate practice.

There are 3 basic aspects of DAP that an effective kindergarten teacher must keep in mind when planning for a diverse group of kindergarten children - age appropriateness, individual appropriateness and social and cultural appropriateness. Keeping each of these aspects in mind while choosing which tool to use in a teacher's “toolbox” is the key to selecting the best strategy to use at any given moment. These decisions should be based on the intended learning goal, specific situation, and characteristics of the child. Often teachers may try one strategy, see that it doesn’t work, and try something else. Other times teachers use multiple strategies to address a learning goal. What’s important is to have a variety of research-based strategies at the ready while remaining flexible and observant.

Besides being intentional about the strategies they use, the support they provide, and their other interactions with children, effective teachers think carefully about which learning context or format is best for helping children achieve a desired outcome. After all, the structures used in the classroom have a powerful impact on how children learn. The five most frequently used learning formats are large groups, small groups, learning centers, learning stations, and daily routines. Each has its own characteristics, functions, and value. Keeping what you know about kindergarten age children at the forefront of your mind will help to ensure that you provide as appropriate experiences as possible for each and every child.